Game development begins with destroying Girls' Frontline.

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Heroic Anthem was the first game, or rather a demo, under this strategy.

The project was initiated by the development team of "The Song of the Holy Maiden". All game assets, including some of the world view, were reused from "The Song of the Holy Maiden" and the "Heroes of Might and Magic III" remake.

This demo is also Spark's first SLG strategy online game.

SLG

This is a market that Spark doesn't deal with much, but it has a considerable market share in the country.

This is reflected in the project proposal of the Saintess Song Studio.

In 2019, the number of SLG users was approximately 5270.1 million, accounting for 8.5% of mobile game users. The user base was stable and had high user engagement, with an average spending of 300 yuan per person.

In other words, this user base of 50 million generated approximately 15 billion in revenue.

Moreover, this is only the domestic market. Including Bilibili in its previous life, it was able to turn a profit by distributing the Three Kingdoms-themed SLG game "Strategy to Conquer the World".

This shows that the market has a user base.

Furthermore, these users are not currently closely connected with Xinghuo, even though NetEase's "Land of Glory" is logged into the Xinghuo platform.

However, it was just logging into one interface.

The team behind "The Song of the Holy Maiden" worked on "The Song of the Holy Maiden" after creating "Heroes of Might and Magic III: Remastered". Therefore, during the development process...

Actually, I've always wanted to create an SLG (Strategy/Simulation Game) with a lower barrier to entry, using assets from the Heroes of Might and Magic III remake and The Song of the Holy Maiden.

At this juncture.

Domestic SLG online games, such as "Land of Glory", may still be called SLG, but their gameplay is completely different from traditional SLG games.

simply put.

SLG games like "Romance of the Three Kingdoms: Strategy Edition" are essentially "PUBG" games disguised as SLG games.

These types of games all have similar core gameplay.

Basically, after players enter the server, they choose one of several "birth continents." Then, one or two larger alliances will emerge from these birth continents. They then enter "resource continents" to fight against players from other continents. The alliance that wins the battle enters the final "chicken dinner" circle.

The entire gameplay is a miniature version of "PUBG".

This was the first season. When the second season came, it became even more like "PUBG," with matchmaking in a league format and round after round of winning.

This type of "battle royale" strategy game has evolved from NetEase's "Romance of the Three Kingdoms: Strategy Edition" to Tencent's "Return to Empire," then to "Romance of the Three Kingdoms: Strategy Edition," and even Uncle's "Strategic Planning."

They are all based on the same core gameplay.

This approach has both advantages and disadvantages.

On the positive side, the core gameplay of this "battle royale" style SLG emphasizes cooperation and competition between alliances, giving it a MOBA feel when you're fighting.

The events are usually large-scale and the feedback is strong.

The introduction of seasons avoids the problem of "the strong getting stronger" in traditional SLG games. The matchmaking for each season is based on the strength of the league, and the results are usually quite reasonable.

Furthermore, the core of the "battle royale" gameplay is competition, and ultimately only one alliance can win.

This intense competition fuels players' competitive spirit and brings a high sense of accomplishment, coupled with a high proportion of "combat" elements. This makes it easier for developers to introduce various "pay-to-win" systems.

This is why SLG players have a significantly higher spending rate than players of other games.

but.

From a broader perspective, this approach isn't entirely without its problems.

On the one hand, these types of games are extremely unfriendly to casual players, free-to-play players, and low-spending players. If you don't spend money or spend very little, the experience in the game is basically the same as "working" in a different place.

Secondly, this type of game is highly dependent on the league, and although each season is a brand new start, the core gameplay is highly repetitive.

Playing it for a long time can still get boring.

After a period of peak development, the market has seen a lack of major players entering this sector since 20.

It wasn't until 24 years ago, with the release of "Strategic World," a game that allows players to have fun even with low or no spending, that another player entered the market.

Although Lin Li actually felt that the so-called "low-spending, zero-spending can also have fun" of "Strategy of the World" was essentially just a gimmick.

However, the success of "The Scheme to Conquer the World" has indeed made Lin Li supportive of moving in this direction.

In fact, it's not just Lin Li.

On Xinghuo's official website, almost every day players hope that Xinghuo can launch an SLG online game to save the people from suffering, but Lin Li has never moved in that direction.

Because Xinghuo's previous strategy was to "build a solid foundation," all production capacity naturally had to be focused on how to build that foundation.

Only after establishing a firm foothold did Xinghuo begin to gradually expand its influence.

Up until last month's "Disc" project.

anyway.

Although Heroic Anthem draws inspiration from Heroes of Might and Magic III remakes, its art style has been altered.

In terms of core gameplay, it adopts the same "battle royale" + "strategy" gameplay as "Romance of the Three Kingdoms".

However, it is different from classic games such as "Romance of the Three Kingdoms".

The game "Heroic Anthem" has removed the alliance system. Since it's a battle royale game, which is more exciting: working for someone else and watching them win, or strategizing and winning yourself?

The answer to this question is obvious; there's no need to ask it.

For any game to succeed, it's not simply a matter of combining different gameplay elements. Before making any decisions, the producers must think through several key points.

Does the core game loop or gameplay of the game you are referencing satisfy the tastes of today's players?

What makes modern online SLG games so enjoyable?

Some might say the thrill comes from joining your alliance in massive brawls, but that's not quite accurate. Ultimately, the thrill of online strategy games today lies in "fighting against other players."

Once you've identified this "satisfaction point," you'll realize that the existence of the alliance system is "against that satisfaction point."

Let's imagine.

If PUBG added a gang system.

Once you enter the game, you can't do whatever you want. You have to first acknowledge a leader and follow their rules. Players who contribute a lot to the guild and spend a lot of money can go to the high-resource zone, while other players can only go to the low-resource zone.

In battle, you fire a burst of bullets, and the enemy boss, radiating golden light, catches the bullets with his bare hands and is completely unharmed. He can kill dozens of people in one go, until he encounters a boss like you, radiating golden light, and you run into the enemy.

What's so "fun" about this kind of game?

Therefore, from a gameplay perspective, the League system itself was designed for a pay-to-win system and is inherently designed to suppress the enjoyment of players.

Chapter 633 Rolling into Service?

Since it's a strategy game (SLG) for chicken dinner.

Then why bother finding a boss? Why create a constraint for yourself? The thrill of strategy in SLG comes from strategizing and planning, not from being a mere soldier.

After clarifying this logic and confirming that the Saintess Song Studio also clearly understood this logic, the developers of the Heroes of Might and Magic III remake started a new game called Heroes of Might and Magic: Anthem.

After confirming that it would be a single-player strategy battle royale game, the first challenge the development team faced was to add more details to the game.

Due to a change in thinking.

The game's interaction and operation methods will definitely need to be changed. However, when making changes, the development team obviously needs to consider whether the changed interaction methods will be acceptable to players.

If you add to the original core gameplay, can you maintain the fun?

And ultimately, this is still a commercial game. After removing the commercial model of previous SLG online games, will the new commercial model destroy the fun?

Following these rules and regulations, the final product created by the production team...

This is the demo for "Heroic Anthem".

~~~

"Come on, let's have a game."

"Come on, let's play a round."

"Go ask if Lao Wang is online."

"Ask around, if all else fails, the three of us can drive it."

Although Heroic Anthem removed the alliance system, it did not simplify the social system. Instead, it upgraded this aspect because, in addition to "domestic affairs," diplomacy is also very interesting in SLG games.

After forming a team, players can enter the game. Please note the following:

In standard mode, this "Enter Game" is different from the "Enter Game" in PUBG or other games.

Firstly, the matchmaking modes are divided into three types: individual, squad, and faction.

In other games, all players are matched together and enter a new game at the same time, but in Heroic Anthem, the matchmaking allows for a maximum error of 30 minutes.

What does that mean?

In extreme cases, it's possible that in a game, the first player has been playing for 30 minutes before the last player joins.

Of course, players who enter later will receive some speed-up buffs.

The reason for this setting is that in the standard mode of "Heroic Anthem", the time for a single game is calculated in days, and during the internal staff testing phase, it takes about 2 to 10 days.

This timeframe means that even with a large player base, achieving instant matchmaking for specific skill levels remains highly unrealistic.

Therefore, the development team referenced some common practices used in popular SLG online games.

That is "rolling servers". The so-called rolling servers refer to the fact that SLG online game manufacturers are constantly opening new servers, and the reason for the existence of rolling servers is that

It's actually a very interesting phenomenon.

In other words, most SLG players do not like playing long seasons, but prefer the first season.

In all SLG games, the first season is often the most intense, fun, and unpredictable stage. At this time, there are many new players, and the "gap between rich and poor" is not so large when most of the players on a server are "ordinary players".

Alliances are often newly formed, with everyone starting from scratch, competing for resources, building power, and ultimately determining the winner.

As the season progressed, in the second and third seasons, although the gameplay remained the same, a large number of low-spending players left, and the proportion of "paying" players on the match servers increased exponentially.

Furthermore, in the second season, many developers stopped considering the feelings of ordinary players and instead focused on how to exploit human weaknesses to get "pay-to-win" players to spend more money.

To entice players to spend money, they naturally need to increase the rewards for spending money.

When whales (players who spend a lot of money on in-game purchases) have a better experience, the experience for ordinary players naturally suffers.

This explains why many ordinary, low-spending players, who felt they were doing alright in the first season and could even hold their own against others, find themselves completely crushed in the second season...

However, the developers also know that ordinary players are the breeding ground for paying players, so they will keep opening new servers so that players can jump directly to the newly opened server after the first season ends and start a new journey.

The "rolling server" mechanism, simply put, is about constantly opening new servers so that players can always stay in the "first season" state and enjoy the fun of starting from scratch and fierce competition.

However, this mechanism also brings some problems, such as server fragmentation and players switching servers repeatedly, which can become boring after a couple of attempts.

In this respect, "Heroic Anthem" has made sweeping reforms.

There's no longer a season; if you don't get a chicken dinner this time, you can play another one a few days later. With the random map and player matching mechanisms, every game is fresh and exciting.

By introducing a "dynamic matchmaking" system, players can join a newly started game at any time.

Players no longer need to wait for new servers to open every day like in traditional SLG games, nor do they need to worry about the lack of players on older servers. As long as they want, they can join a game at any time and experience the fun of SLG.

"To be honest, even though I've played a few rounds, I still think the person who designed this matchmaking mode is quite creative."

Feng Ming looked at his lord character on the team interface and started talking about the game.

"Indeed, at least we don't have to switch servers anymore; we can play whenever we want."

"Hey! Old Wang's here!!"

"Let's go! Drive, drive!"

Feng Ming shouted excitedly, and as soon as everyone was together, he clicked the "Start Matching" button.

With the start of the matchmaking system, thanks to the dynamic matchmaking mechanism of "Heroic Anthem", Feng Ming's team entered the game instantly.

Which faction to choose?

"Let's go north."

"it is good"

Once in the game, the first thing players naturally do is choose a country.

After selecting a country, the player's city will be randomly assigned to a territory belonging to that country, and the player will enter the game as a lord.

Then, just like in most strategy games, players need to build structures, recruit soldiers and heroes, advance technology, and unlock higher-level soldiers.